Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Have been working on my studio space for painting, and in the mean time have been doing a lot of drawing (I've updated the drawing section of my website, so feel free to check that out). A lot of the work has been strict focus on values, as well as face work- next up will be more hand studies, but those will most likely end up here rather than on my actual website).Additionally I have the following book recommendations for my fellow emerging artists out there-

Art/Work- a book that tells you everything college wouldn't about developing a career in art. it has great examples of things that many of us don't think about when we are on our road to becoming "legitimate professional" artists including invoice sheets, tax forms, gallery courting 'rules', work hanging methods, shipping agreements, artist and gallerist interviews and comments on all the issues covered in the bookand all kinds of other incredibly valuable information. If you are an artist and want to sell work or are trying to achieve gallery representation, I have to say you should probably have this book.

Art & Fear- I'm almost done with this one. It's a great book, even if you don't agree with all the philosophies involved and it really allowed me to think about the creation, production, and business of art in more of a 3 dimensional way. They try to tackle a lot of hypotheticals- some for me were relevant and some not so much- but the most important thing about it is that most of it is actually just really advice coming from people who have "been there". This is an excellent book, and philosophically is a great tool.And finally-I'd Rather Be in the Studio- This book is very very similar to Art/Work, but is mostly with a "No Bullshit" approach or attitude toward the subject. It instills the age old idea of "If you want to do something, do it. If you're going to pussyfoot around, stop complaining, and just do something else. I recommend this book for those of us that need a little more of a kick in the ass, and even in conjunction with Art/Work though one might find the content to be a little repetitive. Additionally, though, you can also get a whole slew of downloadable goodies with tons more information than just the book has to offer, so the purchase does go a long way.

In other news, I will be visiting the city of brotherly love today and intend to check out what the Philadelphia art scene is up to lately. On a related note, I want to use this moment to say if you are in Philadelphia this Friday, go check out the Knapp gallery, where my friend and colleague Petros Pappalas will be participating in a group show- based on Petros' recent work and the Knapp's recent shows it should make for an excellent viewing.